I get asked the question, “How did you do all that you do?” quite often. I think there’s two answers to that:

1. I don’t think about things too long. I just go with my gut and 90% of the time it looks great.

2. My hands are always moving. You will rarely find me just watching TV or sitting at the table with nothing else going on.

So, I had to plan ahead for all the holiday traveling and visiting there would be going on. Since I would not have easy Internet access or all of my own personal creating supplies at hand I knew I should get some extra earring kits from Blue Hill by Hand to work on.

They came through and sent me four all new (to me) earring kits to create!I like the look of these #i427 Layered Metal Earrings. As I’vepreviously posted, Blue Hill by Hand is the company that purchases and creates my candy drop rings. I have been in the process of trying to come up with some earrings to “go with” the rings. I had a few of the brass discs left so I decided to see how a cluster of candy drop beads would look…here’s what I came up with:

I would love to hear your opinion on these! The blue and mint green earrings shown above and below are #i423 Diamond Beaded Earrings.I had a lot of fun creating #i440 Dark Copper Hoops. I had to pound the curve into them with a hammer and a wood form. It was a great way to get some energy out and the end result is just gorgeous!

The fourth pair of earrings I created was from the Eclectic Earth Collection . These are called Star Jasmine.

This was definitely the perfect solution to keep busy during the ‘down’ holiday times of visiting and traveling.

I can do a little bit more extensive blogging at this point about the handmade gifts that I made for the holidays since they have all been given away. Cedi’s OwlCapri’s OwlAn Owl for my Friend’s Baby, Ayla For my dad’s side of the family, the Van Grunsven’s we had to bring a $20 exchange gift…I decided to make mine this year – the Mocha Meringue Tote Bag. My cousin Mandy ended up with it….I think she was happy (hope so). If you really like it – no worries…I have enough to make a custom order bag! These two pictures are of a crazy quilted bag I made for a friend of mine…she really likes orange and textures. The strap is adjustable so you could throw it over your shoulder or across your chest. And lastly…this is the quilt I made for my mom and dad. They wanted a wall hanging for one of their walls in their “new” house (well…they moved in over a year ago).I managed to piece it together but I still have to send it to Barb to be quilted and I need to add the binding.

I would love for you to share with me any handmade gifts either you made or received!